Welcome to PROVENCE TODAY, a blog about life and politics in France.
In our search for the ideal place to retire, my husband and I settled in Aix-en-Provence in 1998 and have never stopped learning about this fascinating country that has become our permanent home. While this blog deals with the socio-political aspects of France, my book "Taking Root in Provence" focuses on the pleasures and paradoxes of daily life in sunny Provence.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

NUIT DEBOUT; HOLLANDE; NAVAL VICTORIES; HIGH TIMES FOR HIGH TECH

Nuit Debout, Place de la République

A new wind is blowing across the land and it is blowing at
night. Nuit Debout (Up All Night) is
a movement that started in Paris on March 31 as a protest against a pending
new labor law (El Khomri) that would make hiring and firing easier for
companies and potentially affect job opportunities, especially for the young.
Those young walked out of high schools and universities and were soon joined by
working people who would come and demonstrate after work. As they grew in
numbers they began to occupy large public squares such as the Place de la
République, where reporters and television cameras relayed their every claim
and protest to the prime-time evening newscasts.

Interestingly, many of these young protesters are at least
ten years away from their first job, and their anger over a proposed new labor
law looks like a pre-emptive strike against a reduced job market when they
finish school. Once in a while they are joined by musicians, and to some it may
look like they are out having fun at night, happy to skip school for a good
cause, and soon to fade away like so many protests before. But against all
expectation, the movement did not run out of steam and people continue to
gather nightly even after hooligans tried to disrupt the protest by throwing
rocks at police, breaking windows and setting fires. So Nuit Debout continues and has now spread to other cities, although the
tone is shifting from protest to gabfest where anyone present can speak up and
be heard for three minutes. So far, so unthreatening.

And yet, an undercurrent is being felt that is reminiscent
of the Stéphane Hessel effect of a few years ago. In late 2010 German-born and
French-nationalized Stéphane Hessel, concentration camp survivor, resistance
fighter, former French diplomat who helped draft the Declaration of Human
Rights, and man of letters, published Indignez-Vous!
(Time for Outrage!), a pamphlet-sized book that was an instant success and sold
4.5 million copies in 35 countries. I attended his conference in
Aix-en-Provence in October 2010 where the then 93-year-old Hessel brought the
audience to its feet with a passionate call for non-violent action against
growing social and economic inequality worldwide. The key words were Resistance
and Human Dignity.

Stéphane Hessel

Though this was no call for revolution, the seed was planted
and sparked the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US and Los Indignados in Spain. Hessel died in 2015 at age 95, but his
message of peaceful protest against the indignities of today's neoliberal market-driven
system still resonates in the left-wing Spanish movement Podemos, a direct outgrowth of Los
Indignados. Podemos (We Can) was
founded in March 2014 and today is Spain's second-biggest party, with 69 seats
in Parliament. Last week its leader, political scientist Pablo Iglesias, turned
down an invitation to form a coalition government with Prime Minister Rajoy's
center-right People's Party. Even if Podemos does not join the coalition, its rapid
growth is evidence that sustained protest may well spawn a political party with
a real voice in government.

Pablo Iglesias, leader of Podemos

It is highly unlikely that the French Nuit Debout movement will grow into a political force, but the
extreme dissatisfaction with President François Hollande (whose approval rating
is down to 14 percent in the polls) is such that this cannot be excluded. Even his
own camp is divided, and Economics Minister Emmanuel Macron has just announced
in an interview that he is dissatisfied with today's Socialist Party. Earlier
this month he founded his own movement, En
Marche, and rumor has it that he may run for the presidency in 2017.

Following the defeat in Parliament of his bill to revoke
French citizenship from convicted terrorists, and his current difficulties in
getting the El Khomri labor law adopted, President Hollande went on national
television on April 14 for a "Dialogue with Citizens". In a 2-hour
interview by two journalists and four citizens, the dialogue soon turned into
an exercise of self-justification and a detailed listing of his minor
successes. Nothing about the high rate of unemployment which he claims to be
combatting with a number of measures (derisively referred to as
"mesurettes" in the press) that are clearly not working. And nothing
in the way of concrete answers to the four citizens about their particular
concerns (bloated paperwork, jihadism at home, rise of the right). To one and
all, Hollande's response was: things are better today than when I took over.
"Are you joking?" said one of the journalists.

In the stuttering manner that is his style Hollande failed
to reassure anyone, and the next day the newspapers pulled no punches, calling
this missed opportunity his Waterloo, a catastrophe for the socialists, a gain
for the extreme-right Front National, and proof that he cannot be re-elected in
2017.
If today he is widely seen as a failed president at home, he nevertheless
has a strong record abroad.

He has never looked more presidential than in the aftermath
of the Charlie Hebdo killings in January 2015, when he gathered dozens of
foreign leaders around him in a solemn march against religious extremism.
Similarly, he found the right tone in his response to the Paris attacks of last
November and immediately launched French airstrikes against ISIS strongholds in
Raqqa, Syria.
In 2013, he was the only European leader to support an
international military strike in Syria
(which had to be aborted when the US and the UK backed out), and that same
year, he led a successful military intervention against Al Qaida in Mali, where
he maintains a military force to secure the Sahel region.

Pity that this is not perceived as strong leadership at home,
where he continues to be seen as weak and out of his depth. Fighting wars is
simpler than passing reforms in France.

So where is the good
news?
Try this:

Shortfin Barracuda submarine

−Just this morning it
was announced that French shipbuilder DCNS has won a $40 billion contract to
build 12 submarines for the Australian Navy, beating bids from Germany and
Japan. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the news and said that the Shortfin
Barracuda subs will be built in Adelaide.

− Earlier this month the Italo-Swiss shipping company MSC
Croisières ordered four large cruise ships from shipbuilder STX France in Saint
Nazaire for a total cost of €4 billion. This in addition to an earlier €3
billion order by MSC for four passenger ships, i.e. a total commitment by MSC
of €7 billion in two years.

−Today STX is putting the finishing touches on the Harmony of the Seas, largest cruise ship
in the world, built for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. It is expected to be
delivered next month. With a full order book and commitments until 2025, things
are going swimmingly for STX France.

− Perhaps more surprising is that France is experiencing a boom
in high-tech startups. The difficult job market at home has caused a brain
drain of young people to banking jobs in London and elsewhere, but others have
been motivated to start their own business, especially in new technologies.

This year, the important annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas counted
no less than 128 French high-tech companies, and France is today "the
high-tech pioneer in Europe" according to John Chambers, CEO of Cisko, who
is ready to invest €200 million in French startups. Microsoft's CEO agrees and
is investing €83 million in French startups, while Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is
opening an Artificial Intelligence research lab in Paris this year. Not bad for
a country with a Labor Code of 3000 pages.
Whoot-whoot for the young techies!

As we suffer another nationwide railworkers' strike today
with shutdowns or slowdowns on most regional and high-speed networks in France causing misery for commuters, it is good to look at the bright side and find
reason for optimism.
Not easy for the French, who tend to see the glass as half empty.
But even if they may find pleasure in pouting, as someone has claimed, they will surely want to raise a toast to these recent commercial successes. So here's to France and its technological know-how - with a glass of wine that is half full.

About Me

About us, rather: Anne-Marie has worked as a translator, teacher, journalist, sportswriter (covering Formula 1 races), and director of corporate communications. She followed her husband Oscar into early retirement in 1998.
Oscar made his career in international development banking and since moving to Provence has become an expert on Provençal cooking.
Anne-Marie has written two books: Ten Years in Provence (2008 - out of print) and Taking Root in Provence (2011 - Distinction Press, Vermont).